NCJ Number
144372
Date Published
1992
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A 1992 survey of police custody in Australia revealed that aboriginal people were significantly overrepresented, despite the government's commitment to reducing this disproportion, but also that fewer people were held in police lockups than in 1988.
Abstract
The survey covered 25,654 incidents of police custody throughout Australia during the month of August 1992. Almost 29 percent of police custodies involved aboriginal people, even though they represent only 1.5 percent of the Australian population. Substantial differences in police custody rates were observed between various states and territories. Most people taken into custody during August were male (87.9 percent), and the mean age of people taken into custody was 28.2 years. More custody incidents occurred on Fridays and Saturdays than on any other days of the week. Reasons given for people being taken into custody and held in police cells were classified as arrested without warrant, arrested under the authority of a warrant, protective custody for intoxicated people, and a residual category for all others. Two offense categories, breaking and entering/fraud and theft and public drunkenness, accounted for 21.6 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively, of police custodies. The mean amount of time people spent in police cells was 18.6 hours. A comparison of police custody in 1988 and 1992 is presented. 2 references, 9 tables, and 1 figure